Mascara
by tothenines
Summary: The ball. The dress. The boy. You, Rose Weasley, in love


**Hi, I posted this story a while ago but I wanted to reupload beacuse last time I did it kinda quickly with no disclaimer or anything really.**

**None of the characters in this story belong to me apart from the ones you don't recgonise. **

**This may seem like a one-shot but it's actually a two-shot and the sequel should be up soon.**

**Read, enjoy, review.**

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You are in a giant ballroom. You see large skirts twirling and men standing around talking and drinking. Across the room you see your Aunt Ginny hanging off a yet another Quidditch player's arm while Uncle Harry looks plastered. Draco and Astoria are feeding each other pieces of food in a sickeningly sweet way.

You sit at your seat on one of round tables and drink your Butterbeer and look at Draco Malfoy because he looks like Scorpius_._ You remember hearing your father comment on how Scorpius looks like Draco but you've always thought Draco looks like Scorpius because Scorpius can only ever look like one person: himself.

You wonder where he is. You are all dressed up in your green dress with its floating skirts and tight intricate corset. You've spent hours on your makeup and hair-calming it into ringlets. You know you look good-perhaps not girly or elegant and vapidly pretty, no, you could never be that. You like to think it's because you have too much self respect.

You sigh and lean back in you chair. You can smell alcohol, the smoke of cigars, the sweet lavender of your perfume and the sweat of the tightly pressed bodies floating around on the dance floor. The ribbing of your corset presses into your pale skin- you hope it doesn't bruise. The purple-black mark might turn Scorpius off.

Tonight is the night. You are ready.

Lily sighs next to you. Her cheeks are red and she looks flushed. Her eyes are sharp, though and they scan the room.

She licks her lips and her eyes flutter.

"Kieran looks nice."

You look in the direction of the dance floor where Kieran Calms is dancing with Harriet Lumburg. His dress robes remind you vaguely of the ones you found up in the loft at home-in the box marked _Ron's Hogwarts Stuff._

"He looks like an idiot."

Lily laughs and then looks at you with contemplative smile on her pretty face. She looks like Aunt Ginny but you're so very happy that their personalities are different; otherwise you might just hate your favourite girl cousin. You still feel sick every time you see Aunt Ginny in the newspaper saying something about Uncle Harry when he's torn up over the divorce already.

_You are in Second Year when it happens. You are sitting at Ravenclaw table when the paper arrives. You feed one of the owls a tiny piece of toast while you unfold it. It has a huge blown up picture of Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny with large lightning bolt separating them. The picture blurs as tears swell up in your eyes. _

_You love your aunt and uncle. To you they are almost a second set of parents and Albus, Lilly and James are your siblings-even if they are bloody annoying sometimes. They seem perfect to you. You've seen them washing up with Harrys' arms around Ginny's waist. You've seen them cook together in perfect harmony without saying a word._

_They are the perfect couple to you and apparently to the rest of the Wizarding World. You can see Albus at the Slytherin table-Scorpius is talking to him, touching his arm, calming him._

_You smile because Scorpius is such a good friend to Al. He's such good person. He'll be such a good husband, such a good father._

_For the rest of the week people ask you questions. They stop at your table and grab your arm in corridors. They stare at you in class and whisper loudly about Harry and Ginny-how perfect they seemed. They whisper loudly about your parents- how perfect they seem. They ask each other how much is an act and how they've heard 'rumours' about arguments and fights._

_For that week, only thoughts of Scorpius can make you smile._

"Are you okay, Rosie?"

You smile at Lily- she looks concerned.

"I'm fine. Just thinking about how much Kieran reminds me of a premature chicken."

Lily laughs again-harder this time- and presses a hand to the top of her dress where she has pushed her tiny breasts up in order to make a tiny cleavage.

She stands up in a flourish, her long dress whispers against the ground. She declares that she needs another drink, winks, and sweeps off to stand next to Wes Farnsway- who throws his head back laughing at something she says.

You smile again- Lily is after all your favourite girl cousin.

You see Victoire with her skinny arms clutching onto Teddy with a manacle-like grip. He clenches his fist around a champagne flute and gazes off into the distance. Victoire pretends not to notice and chats happily to some man from the Ministry, flicking her fair hair back in one smooth movement so that it looks like a blonde shimmering waterfall.

"May I have this dance?" You look up to see Seth Cosway holding out one tanned hand. His lips are a handsome smile and in the bright clusters of floating candles his hair has a hint of red.

You nod your head giving him a wide bright smile. You grip is hand tightly as he leads you through the complicated steps of the dance.

_Seth Cosway is tall and thin at age fifteen. His hands and feet are too big for his body but his smile brightens your day. He is your best friend in Ravenclaw. It's been that way ever since after the Sorting when he sat next to you and you both shared your experiences with Muggle television. Right now, you are in the Common Room playing Wizarding Chess. _

_You mention how you saw Scorpius help a little first year out who got lost this morning._

_Seth laughs. "Rose, he's a Prefect-that's sort of his job. I can't believe you're still hung up on him."_

"_I think he likes me. Why else would a Slytherin sit with me in class and at lunch?" Your move your Queen two spaces forward and she crushes Seth's pawn. _

"_Because his best friend is there."_

"_Seth, I fancy him but we aren't best friends."_

_Seth gives you a wry smile. "I know you aren't best friends with him-after all why would you need him if you have me? I meant Albus."_

"_What are you on about?"_

"_He only sits with you when Albus is there."_

"_No, he doesn't. Sometimes it's just me and hi-"_

_Seth stops you talking by pressing a finger to your lips. He looks into your eyes and you see something in there that you won't identify until you're twenty-six years old and Seth is talking to you about leaving England and new beginnings and how much he's going to miss you._

"_He only sits with when Albus is there." He repeats._

_He looks down at the board. _

"_Checkmate."_

You see Hades across the room and excuse yourself from the dance. She is staring at the room and taking sips of Firewhiskey. You think she looks gorgeous and glamorous-everything you've ever wanted to be. You remember she's Slytherin and likes to get drunk and is still upset from Harris Dane-and his boyfriend that she didn't know about despite her being in love with him since forever- and will probably give you that death glare if she sees you.

She's also Scorpius' best friend and you want to find him.

"Where's Scorpius?"

She smirks at you for a second, then her eyes die and she looks down at her glass and swirls the fiery liquid around.

When she looks up at you again you don't see the malice in her eyes-even thought you really should- you see the green and brown mixing.

When you were younger you didn't understand Lily's fascination with the girl but you do now.

She is beautiful.

She tosses her blonde hair back and her red, red lips stretch into a smile. "Weasley," she says.

"Yes."

"You look wonderful," she giggles. You don't want to smile but you do because like everyone else you find something irresistible about Helena Hades. "Are you wearing mascara?"

"No," you frown. Her eyes glow again and her pale skin is like the moon. She doesn't look like a Slytherin anymore. She looks beautiful. She is beautiful.

"Shame."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Yes, I do. Follow me."

You do follow her. She takes you across the room away from your father and mother who are both too drunk to realise you're gone. Your brother is off somewhere and Al disappeared as soon as he got here (probably to see his Slytherin friends)

Hades pushes aside a deep red curtain and leads you up some stone stairs. It's so silent you can hear your breathing and the sound of your feet on the cold stone.

Hades doesn't seem to be walking or breathing. You don't care right now about Helena Hades and her perfect perfectness.

You care about Scorpius. That's all you've really cared about.

You remember meeting him in your first week of first year when Albus dragged him over to the Ravenclaw table just so you two could meet.

You remember his ice grey eyes and pale blond hair and his straight nose and pale skin and you know even at eleven years old that this is _it. _

Of course you didn't know what _it _was back then, but still.

"Here," Hades says pulling you by the arm in a surprisingly strong grip.

She pulls you forward and you see another red curtain. One of her slim feminine hands pulls it back.

You see him and smile. His skin is the moon in water. His hair pure silver. His perfect, beautiful head is tossed back, eyes closed in ecstasy. You can see his pale pink lips wet and puffy.

You can also see your cousins jet black head. How it hovers near his throat. You can hear the wet sucking noises his lips make against that perfect skin.

You can feel the acute pain of your heart breaking.

You can hear your breathing even more. It closes in on you, suffocating you. You vaguely wonder how your breathing can suffocate you but by then you taste the salt of your tears. You can hear Hades tinkling laugh. Her pain at the scene before her. It probably reminds her of different people and a different time but the same simple message is clear. _You are not wanted._

You can feel her pulling you away. Her rough voice in your ear, her hot breath adding background noise to the rushing in it. "You should leave, Weasley, I don't think Scorpius wants you here. I don't even think he notices that you are here."

You run down the stairs and bang into the walls, the sound echoing. Your breathing is hysterical now. You run and run and run.

And you think of what Hades said before. About you wearing mascara. She planned this, but you don't care because you can't plan Scorpius face with Albus in his arms. You think of the mascara running down your face. Huge black streaks of it. The endless colour showing your heart's freefall. It's descent into oblivion.


End file.
